The present invention relates to an apparatus for assembling a packaging combination including a tubular casing and a dispensing device according to claim 1. The present invention further relates to a method for assembling said packaging combination according to independent claim 12. Moreover, the present invention relates to a packaging combination for accommodating and dispensing a viscous or granular filling material according to claim 16 as well as to a dispensing device according to claim 22 for being attached to a tubular casing and a partially filled tubular casing according to claim 23 to which a dispensing device may be attached.
From EP patent application 1 988 032, a tubular or sausage-shaped packaging is known, being filled with sausage meat. The sausage-shaped product is produced by closing a tubular casing at one end, filling the sausage meat into said tubular casing and closing the filled tubular casing at its respective other end. In order to allow an easier opening of the sausage-shaped product, perforation lines including a number of weak locations are provided on the casing, along which the casing may be opened by pulling off the casing material and dispensing the sausage meat.
Furthermore, packing combinations including a tubular casing packing and a dispensing device are known, e.g. from German laid open document 38 31 225, wherein a device for dispensing the filling material stored in a tubular or bag-shaped packing is disclosed. The device includes a rigid tube having a dispensing nozzle at its one end and being provided for containing completely a bag-shaped casing. The bag-shaped casing containing a pasty filling material, like an adhesive, has to be opened at one end and has then to be positioned in said rigid tube with its opened end facing the dispensing nozzle. A piston matching the inner diameter of the tube is thereafter pushed into the tube, thereby squeezing the bag-shaped packaging and dispensing the filling material through the dispensing nozzle.
With this known packaging combination, it is of disadvantage that the rigid tube has outer circumferential dimensions being such that the complete bag-shaped casing can be accommodated in said rigid tube. If this known packaging combination is provided as a disposable device, this solution is expensive due to the big rigid tube being made from relatively expensive plastics. If this known packaging combination used such that only bag-shaped casing is thrown away and the rigid tube is used several times, the bag-shaped casing must be opened outside the tube so that, when the opened bag-shaped casing is introduced in the rigid tube, filling material can accidently discharged and can pollute the environment.
The assembling of said known tubular casing and dispensing device to a packaging combination on one hand is cost and time expensive, since said assembling has to be made by hand. Moreover, in case that the dispensing device has to be reused, it has to be cleaned from the filling material, which comes into contact at least with the dispensing nozzle. On the other hand, in case that said packaging combination shall be used as a disposable packaging combination, a large amount of material, in particular the rigid tube is wasted, causing high costs.
Thus, it is an object of the present invention to provide an apparatus and a method with which a packaging combination can automatically and time and cost efficient may be assembled. Furthermore, it is an object of the present invention to provide a packaging combination producible on said assembling apparatus with which the above mentioned drawbacks have been overcome, and which allows an easy and safe opening of the tubular casing.